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The Baymont Inn & Suites is committed to providing you with top notch lodging at amazing prices. Beautiful rooms. Beautiful prices. For beautiful people like you. Start your visit to Des Moines the right way by checking into the Baymont Inn and Suites of Des Moines! Your stay is welcomed by an immaculate lobby for you and your guests, followed by exceptional customer service by our hosts. Post check-in, you may be interested in relaxing at the wonderful indoor pool that also features a great hot tub and fitness facility. Towels are always made available for you and your guests located inside the pool area!
Within the vicinity, there are several restaurants for you to enjoy. Iowa Beef Steakhouse is only a half mile from the hotel. This restaurant was voted #1 for the Finest Steak House In Des Moines in 2005. The other restaurants near the hotel are: Bonanza Buffet, Plaza Mexico, Country Kitchen, and Village Inn.
Venues such as the Civic Center, Hoyt Sherman Auditorium, Wells Fargo Arena, and Des Moines playhouse are all within 7 miles of this hotel. You can view all upcoming events by going to www.eventful.com!!!
"Great King Sized Jacuzzi Suite"
Jackie W. - Past Guest
"Best Continental Breakfast"
Past Guest
Amenities
•Complimentary HOT deluxe breakfast
•Complimentary USA Today
•Complimentary Wireless Internet
•Free Local Calls
•Business Services - Fax, Print, Email
•ATM
•Vending Machine
•Indoor Pool
•Hot Tub
•Exercise Room
•In Room Microwave
•In Room Refrigerator
•In Room Hairdryer
•In Room Iron and Board
•In Room Coffee Pot
•Large Work Desks
•Cable Television With Premium Channels
Meeting Facilities
•Two Large Meeting Facilities
•Meeting Room Can Accommodate 130 People
•On Site Catering Service/Garden Courtyard/Hospitality Room Available/Audio & Visual Equipment Included
Check out the beautiful jacuzzi suites while you are here! These are for 21 and up. Anyone under 21 must be accompanied by parent or guardian.
Baymont Inn presents eight different Jacuzzi Suites for guest enjoyment. During Valentine's weekend, the suites start to book from December. The guest may choose from 8 different styles. As of March 2009, the following styles are available:
•Luxury
•Japanese
•Canopy Bed
•Floral
Each suite features a 2-person hot tub with power jets. You will also find in-room amenities such as coffee pot, iron, microwave, refrigerator, and hairdryer! In the morning, please enjoy complimentary hot breakfast served from 6-9 am. We look forward to meeting you!
4685 Northeast 14th Street, Des Moines, IA 50313
Phone (515) 265-4777
Fax (515) 262-7469
"Britain Says It’s Committed to Sale of Lloyds Stake" by CHAD BRAY via NYT t.co/ehZFKjhHf2 (via Twitter twitter.com/felipemassone/status/732581795233927169)
The Province has committed to work with the District of West Kelowna to find permanent solutions for flood mitigation on McDougall Creek to help protect homeowners and road access, and also to help prevent the localized flood threat from extending upstream.
Learn more: www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2013/07/funding-committed-to-mcdou...
Portrait of a man at the London 2010 Tattoo convention.
During the day, we had to shoot fast and flexible, so for the lighting I used a speedlight held by an assistant, triggered with a pocketwizard, trying to balance the flash and what little ambient light there was.
Committed to St. Peter, the parish chapel of Mont-Saint-Michel replaced an old haven which could perhaps date prior to the introduction of the cult of St. Michael.
Constructed upon footings which probably date to the 11th century, the structure had been increased and also elevated in the 2nd half of the Fifteenth century. The odd 16th century addition is actually on a barrel vault constructed over a street.
At the conclusion of the Nineteenth century, once the abbey was secularised, the chapel grew to become the aim of the pilgrimages. The refurbishment of the church devoted to the Archangel St. Michael which includes a sculpture of him in silver that was solemnly crowned within 1877, carries witness to the vigour of the cult of St. Michael in the circumstance of restored patriotism that came to be after the conflict of 1870. The numerous exotics put up on the walls are often of army origins, within homage to the patron saint of the military. The gonfalons provided by the brotherhoods of the loyal additionally demonstrate the popular personality of the pilgrimages.
Every one of these items more or less overshadow the handful of leftover old elements, particularly the actual 13th Century baptismal fonts, the 15th Century sculpture of the Madonna and Child, yet another 16th Century sculpture of St. Anne as well as an 18th Century crucifix. Centre of parish lifestyle within Mont Saint Michel, the chapel appears adjacent to the little township cemetery. Mere Poulard is buried right here and the inscription on her burial place says, “Here rest Victor and Anne Poulard, faithful husband and wife and excellent innkeepers. May the Lord receive them as they have always received their visitors.” [montstmichel.co.uk]
I'm committed. No going back now.
I've started the 52 week project, which could be interesting. I've got some great ideas, but not another 51 yet!
Here's looking forward to 1st April 2011
One of my favourite frogs, the Northern leopard frog. Sadly these frogs are endangered in British Columbia. I'm proud to say that @vanaqua is part of the Northern Leopard Frog Recovery Team, a group of organizations committed to saving this species from extinction. As part of this group, we breed these frogs and release tadpoles into the wild to boost population numbers; we also maintain an assurance population on-site. #joblove #realactivists #vanaqualife #frog #endangered #leopardfrog #fuji #fujifilm #fujixt10 #myfujifilm
I got a chance to shoot these people again. I used my 70-200 f4 lens to see what it was like. Makes for great portraits, under the right circumstances! Any comments welcome and appreciated!
I committed the unpardonable sin yesterday. After Breanne and I took some photos I accidentally deleted them from the card. I've never done that before, not once. When I realized what I had done I could feel the tears well up. So first thing this morning I sat down and confessed to Breanne my transgression and promised to do better. And even though jumping is hard on a 23 year old body (cough) she agreed to let me retake them :)
Relentless Aaron, through hard, committed work ethics, has earned the "belt" as the number one urban lit author. Voted "Author of the year-2007", Relentless has also earned over 6 billion media significant impressions through his diligence. Relentless Aaron's books are also well positioned in better book stores throughout the country, proving that it is possible to LIVE YOUR DREAM. www.relentlessaaron.com www.myspace.com/relentlessaaron
OCEAN BEACH, San Francisco/California (Tuesday, November 1, 2011) Kelly Slater (USA) x 11 World Champion. â Clean three-to-five foot (1 â 1.5 metre) waves graced the banks at Ocean Beach today as the worldâs best kicked off the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco.. Event No. 10 of 11 on the 2011 ASP World Title Series, the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco played a pivotal role in both the requalification campaigns of the worldâs best surfers and the hunt for the 2011 ASP World Title.. .Kelly Slater (USA), 39, defending Rip Curl Pro Search champion, looked sharp while opening his campaign in San Francisco, navigating through several barrels and executing committed turns to earn a 16.03 heat total and a Round 1 heat victory.. Slater, reigning 10-time ASP World Champion and secured secure his unprecedented 11th crown this afternoon when he defeated Dan Ross (AUS).. Photo: joliphotos.com
St Baldricks Brevard at The Avenue Viera by commercial photographer Rich Johnson of Spectacle Photo. Dedicated to the St. Baldrick's Foundation Events on the Space Coast of FL and raising awareness for Childhood Cancer. The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives.
Friday, May 10, 2013 - The Prime Minister of Australia, Ms Julia Gillard visited Gerehu market today, the pilot marketplace of UN Women and NCDC's Safe City Programme, in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea.
Greeted by the Hon. Governor Powes Parkop, Minister for Health Hon. Michael Malabag, UN Acting Resident Coordinator Dr William Adu-Krow and UN Women Country Programme Manager, Dr Jeffrey Buchanan, Ms Gillard spoke to local vendors and ward councilors about the newly renovated marketplace.
The visit coincides with the Australian Aid Programme contributing funding towards the UN Women and NCDC joint programme which focuses on social mobilisation and infrastructure improvements to make for safer public spaces for women and girls. AusAID have committed AU$3.52 million over the next five years to the programme.
Photo credits: UN Women Papua New Guinea/ Kim Eaton
Iceland: Sigmundur Daví? Gunnlaugsson
“Iceland is committed to closing the gender pay gap by 2022…. Iceland has a proven track record on advancing gender equality and this has been instrumental in the progressive development of our society. It therefore gives me great pleasure that our new session of Parliament…has the highest number of women parliamentarians yet, with about 45 per cent of parliamentarians being women…. I am proud to stand before you here as one of the 10 heads of government or state that are HeforShe champions in the impact 10-10-10 initiative of UN Women. I am joined by close to 6 per cent of Icelandic men who have taken the pledge. We are determined to get more of our fellow countrymen to sign up, and will also encourage males around the world to sign up…and engage…in achieving gender equality…. Parliament has confirmed a huge increase for funding issues of equality. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s rights to vote and stand in parliamentary elections, we have set up a…five-year equality fund. Over half of the grants will be awarded to international equality efforts.”
World leaders convene at the United Nations on 27 September 2015 for the “Global Leaders’ Meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: A Commitment to Action” to personally commit to ending discrimination against women by 2030 and announce concrete and measurable actions to kick-start rapid change in their countries.
Read More: www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2015/9/press-release-glob...
Read every country's committment from the event: beijing20.unwomen.org/en/step-it-up/commitments
Photo: UN Women/Sarah Stacke
New Jersey
March 2015
Sony A7R | Nikkor-S 50mm f1.4 Millennium
Portfolio/Blog | Tumblr | Twitter | Ello
HI Fiona,
It was a great event! Please see below the story and some photos attached, if you'd like to post this on Indigo where appropriate and on the gallery, I will leave this into your capable hands!
Thanks again for the contribution. We really had a good and inspiring time!
Sandrine
****
Encouraged by Informa`s One Planet Eating initiatives, the Hong Kong team got together at HOME to share a few healthy tapas, organic cocktails and be inspired by Christian Mongendre, our Guest Speaker, who created HOME. You can check him out: www.lifestyleasia.com/470121/tastemakers-christian-mongen...
In balancing mind and body, HOME - Eat to Live strives to use only organic produce whenever possible. Much of our ingredients are sourced locally from a network of farms and our food is made fresh daily. Our menu aims to appeal to everyone. We believe that healthy, plant-based foods should be tasty, filling, and nutritious. We offer vegan, gluten free & raw options, including healthy desserts and organic cocktails. We are committed to supporting a sustainable, plant-based lifestyle, collectively lowering our carbon footprint and preserving our earth's fresh water supply through a plant-based menu, mindful ingredient sourcing, eco-friendly packaging and practices.
During the talk, Christian raised awareness about recycling, compost, biodegradable materials like the plastic they use, from corn, LED lights which create no heat.
He also told us about the importance of eating more plant based food, and the impact on our planet. As a very demanding person, he wanted to create a vegetarian and sustainable restaurant and also bring taste and colour to our plates, with no processed food. Christian also pointed out the menu of HOME, each dish is called by animals in danger: Golden Snub Nosed Monkey Open Faced Toast, Manta Ray Salad Bowl, Siberian Tiger Earth Bowl, Northern White Rhino Sliders , Hawaiian Monk Seal Flatbread...
The team was very engaged and questioned him around the cost of eating healthy, being higher than eating meat. At HOME, they try to educate their customers about the origin of the products they use, Kale is one example, they were the first restaurant to import Kale but as demand grows, price goes down and we reach economies of scale. To make 'Healthy food' affordable, the market demand need to change and it is starting to change.
Finally, we asked him for advice around Pledges we should all make:
- Wellbeing = Food, "you are what you eat" , what you are eating to regenerate your body
- How are you breathing: Try to take time and be conscious of your breath
- Try Meditation
- Drink high quality water and not distilled
- Exercise and organise more events like 'Walk the World'
- Cut down on sweets and opt for healthier snacks
- Choose an organic range of teas
- Recycle
- Having LED lights
- And last but not least, we all agreed to at least TRY: Meat Free Monday !
Alena & Sandrine
Sandrine Declippeleir
Account Director - Professional Services, Asia Pacific
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Delft is turned upside down by the construction work on the railway tunnel. The outskirts of the city centre resemble one large construction pit, hiding the current railway station, somewhere behind the giant red frame, from view. Large posters show the progress of the work 10 meters below ground level.
Despite the traffic chaos in this area, where routes change from day to day, people seem to accept it and have committed themselves to the railway tunnel. The citizens wait patiently for the positive changes to the urban development in this area when the above-ground railway will be gone in 2017, no longer separating the town into two parts.
ODC - Theme (15-07-2013): Commit
Pride is the original sin committed by Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden. It convinces us that we are good and wise and don't need God to advise us; it convinces us that we know best.
Pride is the sin that leads to all other sins because it blinds us to the wickedness of our own hearts. For that reason, it is the most dangerous sin.
When you think more of yourself than you ought, you won't see your own sinfulness and therefore won't seek God's forgiveness for your sins before you die, causing you to end up in hell.
Throughout the Bible God repeatedly warns against pride. And for good reason. He knows the tragic eternal consequences pride results in. And He loves you too much not to warn you.
View verse on Bible Gateway:
On 7 March 2014, Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC), ruling in the majority, with Judge Christine Van den Wyngaert dissenting, rendered its judgment in the case The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga. The Chamber was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of Germain Katanga’s guilt as an accessory, within the meaning of article 25(3)(d) of the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, to one crime against humanity (murder) and four war crimes (murder, attacking a civilian population, destruction of property and pillaging) committed on 24 February 2003 during the attack on the village of Bogoro, in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Decisions on sentencing and victim reparations will be rendered later. The Prosecutor and the Defence may appeal the judgment within 30 days.
. . . this are handprints of widows who committed sati on their husbands funeral pyre
_______________________________________________
Sati was (is) a social funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman would immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. The practice was banned several times, with the current ban dating to 1829 by the British.
CURRENT INCIDENCE
Sati still occurs in the rural areas of India, reports extending into the 21st century. Some 30 cases of sati from 1943-1987 in the Rajput/Shekavati region are documented according to a referred statistics, the official number being 28. A well documented case from 1987 was that of 18-year old Roop Kanwar. In response to this incident, additional recent legislation against the practice was passed, first within the state of Rajasthan, then generally, the central government of India.
In 2002, a 65-year-old woman by the name of Kuttu died after sitting on her husband's funeral pyre in the Indian Panna district. On 18 May 2006, Vidyawati, a 35-year old woman allegedly committed sati by jumping into the blazing funeral pyre of her husband in Rari-Bujurg Village, Fatehpur district in the State of Uttar Pradesh. On 21 August 2006, Janakrani, a 40-year-old woman, burned to death on the funeral pyre of her husband Prem Narayan in Sagar district. On 11 October 2008 a 75-year-old woman, Lalmati Verma, committed sati by jumping into her 80-year-old husband's funeral pyre at Checher in the Kasdol block of Chhattisgarh's Raipur district.
ETYMOLOGY
The term is derived from the original name of the goddess Sati, also known as Dakshayani, who self-immolated because she was unable to bear her father Daksha's humiliation of her husband Shiva. The term may also be used to refer to the widow. The term sati is now sometimes interpreted as "chaste woman". Sati appears in both Hindi and Sanskrit texts, where it is synonymous with "good wife"; the term suttee was commonly used by Anglo-Indian English writers.
ORIGN
Few reliable records exist of the practice before the time of the Gupta empire, approximately 400 CE. After about this time, instances of sati began to be marked by inscribed memorial stones. The earliest of these are found in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, though the largest collections date from several centuries later, and are found in Rajasthan. These stones, called devli, or sati-stones, became shrines to the dead woman, who was treated as an object of reverence and worship. They are most common in western India. A description of suttee appears in a Greek account of the Punjab written in the first century BCE by historian Diodorus Siculus. Brahmins were forbidden from the practice by the Padma Purana. A chapter dated to around the 10th century indicates that, while considered a noble act when committed by a Kshatriya woman, anyone caught assisting an upper-caste Brahmin in self-immolation as a "sati" was guilty of Brahminicide.
The ritual has prehistoric roots, and many parallels from other cultures are known. Compare for example the ship burial of the Rus' described by Ibn Fadlan, where a female slave is burned with her master.
Aristobulus of Cassandreia, a Greek historian who traveled to India with the expedition of Alexander the Great, recorded the practice of sati at the city of Taxila. A later instance of voluntary co-cremation appears in an account of an Indian soldier in the army of Eumenes of Cardia, whose two wives jumped on his funeral pyre, in 316 BC. The Greeks believed that the practice had been instituted to discourage wives from poisoning their old husbands.
Voluntary death at funerals has been described in northern India before the Gupta empire. The original practices were called anumarana, and were uncommon. Anumarana was not comparable to later understandings of sati, since the practices were not restricted to widows – rather, anyone, male or female, with personal loyalty to the deceased could commit suicide at a loved one's funeral. These included the deceased's relatives, servants, followers, or friends. Sometimes these deaths stemmed from vows of loyalty, and bear a slight resemblance to the later tradition of junshi in Japan.
It is theorized that sati, enforced widowhood, and girl marriage were customs that were primarily intended to solve the problem of surplus women and surplus men in a caste and to maintain its endogamy.
Apart from the Indian subcontinent, origins of this practice have been found in many parts of the world; it was followed by the ancient Egyptians, Thracians, Scythians, Scandinavians, Chinese, as well as people of Oceania and Africa.
Sati remained legal in some princely states for a time after it had been abolished in lands under British control. Jaipur banned the practice in 1846. Nepal continued to practice Sati well into the 20th century.
On the Indonesian island of Bali, sati (known as masatya) was practised by the aristocracy as late as 1905, until Dutch colonial rule pushed for its termination.
Following outcries after each instance, the government has passed new measures against the practice, which now effectively make it illegal to be a bystander at an event of sati. The law now makes no distinction between passive observers to the act and active promoters of the event; all are supposed to be held equally guilty. Other measures include efforts to stop the 'glorification' of the dead women. Glorification includes the erection of shrines to the dead, the encouragement of pilgrimages to the site of the pyre, and the derivation of any income from such sites and pilgrims.
Another instance of systematic Sati happened in 1973, when Savitri Soni sacrificed her life with her husband in Kotadi village of Sikar District in Rajasthan. Thousands of people witnessed this incident.
Although many have tried to prevent the act of sati by banning it and reinforcing laws against it, it is still being practiced (on rare occasions) in India under coercion or by voluntary burning, as in the case of Charan Shah: a 55 year-old widow of Manshah who burnt herself on the pyre of her husband in the village of Satpura in Uttar Pradesh on 11 November 1999. Her death on the funeral pyre has provoked much controversy, as there have been questions as to whether she willingly performed the Sati or was coerced. Charan Shah had not professed strong feelings to become a Sati to any of her family members, and no one saw her close to the burning body of her husband before she jumped into the fire. The villagers, including her sons, say that she became a Sati of her own accord and that she was not forced into it. They continue to pay their respects to the house of Charan Shah. It has become a shrine for the villagers, as they strongly believe that one who has become a sati is a deity; she is worshipped and endowed with gifts.
NUMBERS
There are no reliable figures for the numbers who died by sati across the country. A local indication of the numbers is given in the records kept by the Bengal Presidency of the British East India Company. The total figure of known occurrences for the period 1813 to 1828 is 8,135; another source gives a comparable number of 7,941 from 1815 to 1828, thus giving an average of about 507 to 567 documented incidents per year in that period. Raja Ram Mohan Roy estimated that there were ten times as many cases of Sati in Bengal compared to the rest of the country. Bentinck, in his 1829 report, states that 420 occurrences took place in one (unspecified) year in the 'Lower Provinces' of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and 44 in the 'Upper Provinces' (the upper Gangetic plain).
WIKIPEDIA
On 7 March 2014, Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC), ruling in the majority, with Judge Christine Van den Wyngaert dissenting, rendered its judgment in the case The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga. The Chamber was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of Germain Katanga’s guilt as an accessory, within the meaning of article 25(3)(d) of the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, to one crime against humanity (murder) and four war crimes (murder, attacking a civilian population, destruction of property and pillaging) committed on 24 February 2003 during the attack on the village of Bogoro, in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Decisions on sentencing and victim reparations will be rendered later. The Prosecutor and the Defence may appeal the judgment within 30 days.
On 7 March 2014, Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC), ruling in the majority, with Judge Christine Van den Wyngaert dissenting, rendered its judgment in the case The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga. The Chamber was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of Germain Katanga’s guilt as an accessory, within the meaning of article 25(3)(d) of the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, to one crime against humanity (murder) and four war crimes (murder, attacking a civilian population, destruction of property and pillaging) committed on 24 February 2003 during the attack on the village of Bogoro, in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Decisions on sentencing and victim reparations will be rendered later. The Prosecutor and the Defence may appeal the judgment within 30 days.
Relentless Aaron, through hard, committed work ethics, has earned the "belt" as the number one urban lit author. Voted "Author of the year-2007", Relentless has also earned over 6 billion media significant impressions through his diligence. Relentless Aaron's books are also well positioned in better book stores throughout the country, proving that it is possible to LIVE YOUR DREAM. www.relentlessaaron.com www.myspace.com/relentlessaaron
Kamera: Nikon F3 (1989)
Linse: Nikkor-N Auto 24mm f2.8 (1970)
Film: Kodak 5222 @ ISO 400
Kjemi: Fomadon Excel (stock / 9 min. @ 20°C)
Wikipedia: Gaza genocide
December 5, 2024
Amnesty International investigation concludes Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza
Amnesty International’s research has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, the organization said in a landmark new report published today.
The report, 'You Feel Like You Are Subhuman': Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, documents how, during its military offensive launched in the wake of the deadly Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel has unleashed hell and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity.
“Amnesty International’s report demonstrates that Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. These acts include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,” said Agnès Callamard (b. 1965), Secretary General of Amnesty International.
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now.”
“States that continue to transfer arms to Israel at this time must know they are violating their obligation to prevent genocide and are at risk of becoming complicit in genocide. All states with influence over Israel, particularly key arms suppliers like the USA and Germany, but also other EU member states, the UK and others, must act now to bring Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza to an immediate end.”
Over the past two months the crisis has grown particularly acute in the North Gaza governorate, where a besieged population is facing starvation, displacement and annihilation amid relentless bombardment and suffocating restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid.
“Our research reveals that, for months, Israel has persisted in committing genocidal acts, fully aware of the irreparable harm it was inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza. It continued to do so in defiance of countless warnings about the catastrophic humanitarian situation and of legally binding decisions from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Israel to take immediate measures to enable the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza,” said Agnès Callamard.
“Israel has repeatedly argued that its actions in Gaza are lawful and can be justified by its military goal to eradicate Hamas. But genocidal intent can co-exist alongside military goals and does not need to be Israel’s sole intent.”
Amnesty International examined Israel’s acts in Gaza closely and in their totality, taking into account their recurrence and simultaneous occurrence, and both their immediate impact and their cumulative and mutually reinforcing consequences. The organization considered the scale and severity of the casualties and destruction over time. It also analysed public statements by officials, finding that prohibited acts were often announced or called for in the first place by high-level officials in charge of the war efforts.
“Taking into account the pre-existing context of dispossession, apartheid and unlawful military occupation in which these acts have been committed, we could find only one reasonable conclusion: Israel’s intent is the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, whether in parallel with, or as a means to achieve, its military goal of destroying Hamas,” said Agnès Callamard.
“The atrocity crimes committed on 7 October 2023 by Hamas and other armed groups against Israelis and victims of other nationalities, including deliberate mass killings and hostage-taking, can never justify Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”
International jurisprudence recognizes that the perpetrator does not need to succeed in their attempts to destroy the protected group, either in whole or in part, for genocide to have been committed. The commission of prohibited acts with the intent to destroy the group, as such, is sufficient.
Amnesty International’s report examines in detail Israel’s violations in Gaza over nine months between 7 October 2023 and early July 2024. The organization interviewed 212 people, including Palestinian victims and witnesses, local authorities in Gaza, healthcare workers, conducted fieldwork and analysed an extensive range of visual and digital evidence, including satellite imagery. It also analysed statements by senior Israeli government and military officials, and official Israeli bodies. On multiple occasions, the organization shared its findings with the Israeli authorities but had received no substantive response at the time of publication.
Unprecedented scale and magnitude
Israel’s actions following Hamas’s deadly attacks on 7 October 2023 have brought Gaza’s population to the brink of collapse. Its brutal military offensive had killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, including over 13,300 children, and injured over 97,000 more, by 7 October 2024, many of them in direct or deliberately indiscriminate attacks, often wiping out entire multigenerational families. It has caused unprecedented destruction, which experts say occurred at a level and speed not seen in any other conflict in the 21st century, levelling entire cities and destroying critical infrastructure, agricultural land and cultural and religious sites. It thereby rendered large swathes of Gaza uninhabitable.
Mohammed, who fled with his family from Gaza City to Rafah in March 2024 and was displaced again in May 2024, described their struggle to survive in horrifying conditions:
“Here in Deir al-Balah, it’s like an apocalypse… You have to protect your children from insects, from the heat, and there is no clean water, no toilets, all while the bombing never stops. You feel like you are subhuman here.”
Israel imposed conditions of life in Gaza that created a deadly mixture of malnutrition, hunger and diseases, and exposed Palestinians to a slow, calculated death. Israel also subjected hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza to incommunicado detention, torture and other ill-treatment.
Viewed in isolation, some of the acts investigated by Amnesty International constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law or international human rights law. But in looking at the broader picture of Israel’s military campaign and the cumulative impact of its policies and acts, genocidal intent is the only reasonable conclusion.
Intent to destroy
To establish Israel’s specific intent to physically destroy Palestinians in Gaza, as such, Amnesty International analysed the overall pattern of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, reviewed dehumanizing and genocidal statements by Israeli government and military officials, particularly those at the highest levels, and considered the context of Israel’s system of apartheid, its inhumane blockade of Gaza and the unlawful 57-year-old military occupation of the Palestinian territory.
Before reaching its conclusion, Amnesty International examined Israel’s claims that its military lawfully targeted Hamas and other armed groups throughout Gaza, and that the resulting unprecedented destruction and denial of aid were the outcome of unlawful conduct by Hamas and other armed groups, such as locating fighters among the civilian population or the diversion of aid. The organization concluded these claims are not credible. The presence of Hamas fighters near or within a densely populated area does not absolve Israel from its obligations to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians and avoid indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks. Its research found Israel repeatedly failed to do so, committing multiple crimes under international law for which there can be no justification based on Hamas’s actions. Amnesty International also found no evidence that the diversion of aid could explain Israel’s extreme and deliberate restrictions on life-saving humanitarian aid.
In its analysis, the organization also considered alternative arguments such as ones that Israel was acting recklessly or that it simply wanted to destroy Hamas and did not care if it needed to destroy Palestinians in the process, demonstrating a callous disregard for their lives rather than genocidal intent.
"Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now."
- Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International
However, regardless of whether Israel sees the destruction of Palestinians as instrumental to destroying Hamas or as an acceptable by-product of this goal, this view of Palestinians as disposable and not worthy of consideration is in itself evidence of genocidal intent.
Many of the unlawful acts documented by Amnesty International were preceded by officials urging their implementation. The organization reviewed 102 statements that were issued by Israeli government and military officials and others between 7 October 2023 and 30 June 2024 and dehumanized Palestinians, called for or justified genocidal acts or other crimes against them.
Of these, Amnesty International identified 22 statements made by senior officials in charge of managing the offensive that appeared to call for, or justify, genocidal acts, providing direct evidence of genocidal intent. This language was frequently replicated, including by Israeli soldiers on the ground, as evidenced by audiovisual content verified by Amnesty International showing soldiers making calls to “erase” Gaza or to make it uninhabitable, and celebrating the destruction of Palestinian homes, mosques, schools and universities.
Killing and causing serious bodily or mental harm
Amnesty International documented the genocidal acts of killing and causing serious mental and bodily harm to Palestinians in Gaza by reviewing the results of investigations it conducted into 15 air strikes between 7 October 2023 and 20 April 2024 that killed at least 334 civilians, including 141 children, and wounded hundreds of others. Amnesty International found no evidence that any of these strikes were directed at a military objective.
In one illustrative case, on 20 April 2024, an Israeli air strike destroyed the Abdelal family house in the Al-Jneinah neighbourhood in eastern Rafah, killing three generations of Palestinians, including 16 children, while they were sleeping.
While these represent just a fraction of Israel’s aerial attacks, they are indicative of a broader pattern of repeated direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects or deliberately indiscriminate attacks. The attacks were also conducted in ways designed to cause a very high number of fatalities and injuries among the civilian population.
Inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction
The report documents how Israel deliberately inflicted conditions of life on Palestinians in Gaza intended to lead, over time, to their destruction. These conditions were imposed through three simultaneous patterns that repeatedly compounded the effect of each other’s devastating impacts: damage to and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure and other objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population; the repeated use of sweeping, arbitrary and confusing mass “evacuation” orders to forcibly displace almost all of Gaza’s population; and the denial and obstruction of the delivery of essential services, humanitarian assistance and other life-saving supplies into and within Gaza.
After 7 October 2023, Israel imposed a total siege on Gaza cutting off electricity, water and fuel. In the nine months reviewed for this report, Israel maintained a suffocating, unlawful blockade, tightly controlled access to energy sources, failed to facilitate meaningful humanitarian access within Gaza, and obstructed the import and delivery of life-saving goods and humanitarian aid, particularly to areas north of Wadi Gaza. They thereby exacerbated an already existing humanitarian crisis. This, combined with the extensive damage to Gaza’s homes, hospitals, water and sanitation facilities and agricultural land, and mass forced displacement, caused catastrophic levels of hunger and led to the spread of diseases at alarming rates. The impact was especially harsh on young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women, with anticipated long-term consequences for their health.
"The international community’s seismic, shameful failure for over a year to press Israel to end its atrocities in Gaza, by first delaying calls for a ceasefire and then continuing arms transfers, is and will remain a stain on our collective conscience."
- Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International
Time and again, Israel had the chance to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, yet for over a year it has repeatedly refused to take steps blatantly within its power to do so, such as opening sufficient access points to Gaza or lifting tight restrictions on what could enter the Strip or their obstruction of aid deliveries within Gaza while the situation has grown progressively worse.
Through its repeated “evacuation” orders Israel displaced nearly 1.9 million Palestinians – 90% of Gaza’s population – into ever-shrinking, unsafe pockets of land under inhumane conditions, some of them up to 10 times. These multiple waves of forced displacement left many jobless and deeply traumatized, especially since some 70% of Gaza’s residents are refugees or descendants of refugees whose towns and villages were ethnically cleansed by Israel during the 1948 Nakba.
Despite conditions quickly becoming unfit for human life, Israeli authorities refused to consider measures that would have protected displaced civilians and ensured their basic needs were met, showing that their actions were deliberate.
They refused to allow those displaced to return to their homes in northern Gaza or relocate temporarily to other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory or Israel, continuing to deny many Palestinians their right to return under international law to areas they were displaced from in 1948. They did so knowing that there was nowhere safe for Palestinians in Gaza to flee to.
Accountability for genocide
“The international community’s seismic, shameful failure for over a year to press Israel to end its atrocities in Gaza, by first delaying calls for a ceasefire and then continuing arms transfers, is and will remain a stain on our collective conscience,” said Agnès Callamard.
“Governments must stop pretending they are powerless to end this genocide, which was enabled by decades of impunity for Israel’s violations of international law. States need to move beyond mere expressions of regret or dismay and take strong and sustained international action, however uncomfortable a finding of genocide may be for some of Israel’s allies.
“The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (b. 1949) and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (b. 1958) for war crimes and crimes against humanity issued last month offer real hope of long-overdue justice for victims. States must demonstrate their respect for the court’s decision and for universal international law principles by arresting and handing over those wanted by the ICC.
“We are calling on the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to urgently consider adding genocide to the list of crimes it is investigating and for all states to use every legal avenue to bring perpetrators to justice. No one should be allowed to commit genocide and remain unpunished.”
Amnesty International is also calling for all civilian hostages to be released unconditionally and for Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups responsible for the crimes committed on 7 October to be held to account.
The organization is also calling for the UN Security Council to impose targeted sanctions against Israeli and Hamas officials most implicated in crimes under international law.
Background
On 7 October 2023 Hamas and other armed groups indiscriminately fired rockets into southern Israel and carried out deliberate mass killings and hostage-taking there, killing 1,200 people, including over 800 civilians, and abducted 223 civilians and captured 27 soldiers. The crimes perpetrated by Hamas and other armed groups during this attack will be the focus of a forthcoming Amnesty International report.
Since October 2023, Amnesty International has conducted in-depth investigations into the multiple violations and crimes under international law committed by Israeli forces, including direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects and deliberately indiscriminate attacks killing hundreds of civilians, as well as other unlawful attacks on and collective punishment of the civilian population. The organization has called on the Office of the ICC Prosecutor to expedite its investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine and is campaigning for an immediate ceasefire.
For the Hebrew translation of this press release, click here.
Source: Amnesty International - Amnesty concludes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza (Publ. 5 December 2024)
As committed as I was to finishing the 365 this year, the night my husband told me he was done with our marriage, pushing through that, well, I couldn't. And then finding out the real reason why three weeks later? I couldn't even touch my camera as it came from him.
I've come to terms, a little, with the fact that the man who sleeps in my bed at night now is not the same man I married, and that I lost my hero, my knight-in-shining-armor, and the only person in the world I ever laid myself entirely bare for. And I've come to terms, a little, with losing the thing I most valued in the world and sacrificed everything for - my marriage.
I took this picture planning only on putting it somewhere (semi) private. But the more I looked at it, the more I liked the picture itself and how, in its way, it captured so much of what I am feeling right now. Exposed. Imperfect. Vulnerable. Raw. And the beauty in all of those things.
I refuse to erect walls because of someone else's brokenness. I put walls between myself and others during the marriage to protect him from his own insecurity and my overwhelmingly loving nature.
They're gone now. And if my heart is a little too much on my sleeve? At least I am being honest.
At least I am being myself.
This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:
www.gao.gov/products/GAO-17-236
TROUBLED ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM: Status of Housing Programs
a) According to the Department of the Treasury (Treasury), these funds have been committed to future financial incentives for existing Making Home Affordable transactions.
b) This is the amount of funds that states and the District of Columbia have drawn from Treasury.
c) This amount of funds disbursed under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Short Refinance program includes about $10.6 million in administrative expenses and approximately $10 million of reserve funds as of September 30, 2016. The reserve funds are on deposit with Citibank, N.A. to provide loss coverage for the program. Treasury will be reimbursed for all unused amounts from this Citibank account.
Today, 4 February 2021, the Trial Chamber IX of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “Court”) found Dominic Ongwen guilty for a total of 61 comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed in Northern Uganda between 1 July 2002 and 31 December 2005. The verdict may be appealed by either party to the proceedings within 30 days after the notification of the Judgment.
Today, 4 February 2021, the Trial Chamber IX of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “Court”) found Dominic Ongwen guilty for a total of 61 comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed in Northern Uganda between 1 July 2002 and 31 December 2005. The verdict may be appealed by either party to the proceedings within 30 days after the notification of the Judgment.
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. -- The COVID-19 pandemic has created many operational challenges for the military. However, service members, DoD civilians and military families across the globe have adapted to overcome the challenges to stay ready and support the whole-of-government response.
While many service members and DoD civilians who work at the Presidio of Monterey and Defense Language Institute are teleworking – essential employees report to work daily to carry on the mission. Employees are strictly following CDC and DoD guidance of social distancing and face coverings to protect themselves and those around them.
The health and safety of all employees, regardless if they are essential employees or teleworking, is the command’s highest priority.
Our service members and DoD civilians are committed to mission success and remain trained and ready to defend the nation.
Photo by Joseph Kumzak, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs
Stagecoach have committed 50 buses to the Open Championship at Muirfield. Large fields are used as car parks and Stagecoach provide the shuttle service to Muirfield . In addition Drem Station car park becomes a bus station for the week of the event. The operation seems to run very smoothly with all the Stagecoach staff in good spirits and even the odd barbecue set up for lunch ( a few of the drivers had singed eyebrows) Stagecoach seem to rise to these occasions and the old Olympians sounded great even the scruffy ones. Well done Stagecoach .
Why men and women want different things from a committed relationship
During my many years of counseling couples, I have frequently worked with the sexual problems that often occur in committed relationships. The most common complaint from men regarding sex is frequency, and the most common...
howdoidate.com/relationships/what-do-men-and-women-want-f...
Ft. Vancouver High School Library Media Center -- Margaret Mead quotation: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world."
The University of Texas at Austin and the Embassy of France have committed to an agreement to establish an endowment to support research collaborations and strengthen academic cooperation between UT Austin and France.
“Global engagement is an essential component of The University of Texas at Austin’s educational and research missions,” said UT Austin President Gregory L. Fenves. “This partnership will strengthen the important relationship between Texas and France and benefit citizens in both nations.”
The Dr. Cécile Dewitt-Morette France-UT Endowed Excellence Fund will solidify the commitment between France and UT Austin to support scholarship that will lead to generations of joint discoveries and deepen the historical ties between the people of France and Texas.
“The Embassy of France is committed to encouraging sustainable cooperation between French and American universities to foster new discoveries as well as students’ and researchers’ mobility,” said Gérard Araud, ambassador of France to the United States. “This new France-University of Texas at Austin program, named for the famous physicist Cécile DeWitt-Morette, will open new perspectives of cooperation in all fields of science and humanities.”
The endowment will honor the life and work of the late mathematician, physicist and UT Austin professor Cécile DeWitt-Morette, who was born and educated in France. A recipient of the French Legion of Honor, DeWitt-Morette leaves a trans-Atlantic legacy as a researcher, educator and champion for improving global science relations. During her storied career, she held the Jane and Roland Blumberg Centennial Professor Emerita in Physics at UT Austin and founded L’École de Physique des Houches, a school that has produced more than 25 winners of the Nobel Prize and the Fields Medal.
TIRUPATI BALAJI PHOTO MADE BY KAILASH MANSAROVAR FOUNDATION, SWAMI BIKASH GIRI , www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
Tirumala Venkateswara Temple is a famous Vedic temple in the hill town ofTirumala, near Tirupati in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. It is around 600 km (370 mi)[2] from Hyderabad, 138 km (86 mi)[3] from Chennai and 291 km (181 mi)[4] from Bangalore.
The Tirumala Hill is 853m above sea level and is about 10.33 square miles (27 km2) in area. It comprises seven peaks, representing the seven heads ofAdisesha, thus earning the name Seshachalam. The seven peaks are called Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabhadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri. The temple is on Venkatadri (also known as Venkatachala or Venkata Hill), the seventh peak, and is also known as the "Temple of Seven Hills". The presiding deity of the temple is Lord Venkateswara, an incarnation of lord Vishnu. Venkateswara is known by other names: Balaji, Govinda, and Srinivasa.[5] The temple lies on the southern banks of Sri Swami Pushkarini, a holy water tank. The temple complex comprises a traditional temple building, with a number of modern queue and pilgrim lodging sites.
The temple is the richest pilgrimage centre, after the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, of any faith (at more than 500 billion[6][7]) and the most-visited place of worship in the world.[8][9][10] The temple is visited by about 50,000 to 100,000 pilgrims daily (30 to 40 million people annually on average), while on special occasions and festivals, like the annual Brahmotsavam, the number of pilgrims shoots up to 500,000, making it the most-visited holy place in the world.[11]
There are several legends associated with the manifestation of the Lord in Tirumala. According to one legend, the temple has a murti (deity) of Lord Venkateswara, which it is believed shall remain here for the entire duration of the present Kali Yuga.
The Pallavas of Kanchipuram (9th century AD), the Cholas of Tanjore (10th century), and Vijayanagara pradhans (14th and 15th centuries) were committed devotees of Lord Venkateswara. During the invasion of Srirangam by Malik Kafur in 1310–11 AD, the Ranga Mandapam of the temple served as the shelter for the presiding deity of Srirangam, Ranganatha Swamy. Later, under the rule of the Vijayanagara emperors, was when the temple gained most of its current wealth and size, with the donation of diamonds and gold.[14] In 1517 Vijayanagara ruler Sri Krishna Deva Raya, on one of his many visits to the temple, donated gold and jewels, enabling the Vimana (inner shrine) roofing to be gilded. Statues of Sri Krishna Deva Raya and his spouse stand in the premises of the temple. After the decline of Vijayanagara Empire, kings from states such as Mysore and Gadwal worshiped as pilgrims and gave ornaments and valuables to the temple. Maratha general Raghoji I Bhonsle (died 1755) visited the temple and set up a permanent administration for the conduct of worship in the temple.[15]There is an idol of Raja Todar Mal who was the revenue minister of Akbar, greeting pilgrims in the premises of the temple.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, as a sovereign Nation, is committed pursuant to its Constitution, to maintain, improve and protect the Tribe; To preserve its resources and cultural heritage; To create opportunities for its members to thrive and become economically and socially self-sufficient as individuals, families and as a tribal government; and, thereby, promote the harmony of traditional values, beliefs which will ensure a positive course of action for future generations.
THE WINNEBAGO INDIAN RESERVATION
The Winnebago Indian Reservation lies in the northern half of Thurston County in northeastern Nebraska. The largest community on the Reservation is the Village of Winnebago. Located on the eastern side of the Reservation, Winnebago is home to most Winnebago tribal members and accounts for almost thirty percent of the Reservation's resident population. The closest large urban centers are Sioux City, Iowa, about 20 miles north of the Reservation, and Omaha, Nebraska, approximately 80 miles to the south. Reservation land holdings extend to Iowa to the east and are not accessible within the Reservation boundaries. There are approximately 1800 acres situated in Thurston County and in the Woodbury County area of western Iowa.
The Winnebago Indian Reservation covers approximately 120,000 acres of cropland, woodland, and pasture in the northern half of Thurston County, Nebraska. The Missouri River on the east, the Omaha Indian Reservation on the south, and the Dakota-Thurston County line to the north border the Reservation. The western boundary parallels State Highway 16 about two miles to its east. Approximately one third of the Reservation acreage is owned by the tribe and individual tribal members. Non-tribal members, however, farm much of the Indian land.
At present, approximately 2,600 people live on the Reservation. Based on demographic modeling, the Reservation population is expected to increase from its year 1990 level of 2,377 to 5,050 in year 2040, due in large part to the high birth rate and relatively youthful composition of the Native American inhabitants. Much of the growth will occur in the Village of Winnebago, where it is anticipated that the population will more than double by year 2040. Some population expansion and settlement will occur outside Winnebago but the extent, scope and direction of this development is primarily dependent on accessibility within the reservation area.
Important sectors of employment on the Reservation include health and education services, manufacturing, agriculture, public administration, and retail trade. Relative to statistics for the state of Nebraska and the nation as a whole, unemployment is rather high and household and per capita income is low for Native Americans living on the Reservation. According to 1990 U.S. Bureau of Census figures, unemployment on the Reservation was 20.4 percent overall and 20.4 percent for the Native American population compared to 3.7 percent unemployment statewide and 5.6 percent unemployment nationally. It is estimated that 44 percent of the Native American population on the Reservation lives at or below the poverty level.
The Winnebago Tribe’s Trust Lands and holdings in Iowa are approximately 1800 acres at present with plans to extend ownership as development occurs. The Winnevagas Casino and the Convenience Store/Gas Station complex plays a significant part in the general economy both in employment and revenue for the tribe.
I committed a moving violation to take this photo (sorry Dad!). I just thought it looked so nice, I had to stop, and back up a little bit (I used my hazard lights and made sure nobody was coming).
312/365 11/8/11
Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia 'Babsy' Grange converses with Executive Director, Caribbean Export Development Agency, Pamela Coke Hamilton at the Caribbean Creative Industries Management Unit, Options Analysis Workshop held at the Pegasus Hotel on Tuesday, April 12, 2016. The two were also joined by (from left) Division chief, Technical Cooperation Division, Caribbean Development Bank, Edward Greene and Acting Head of Delegation of the European Union to Jamaica, Jesús Orus Baguena.
Pablo Picasso (1881/1973), El Faisán/Der Fasan/The Pheasant, 1938 (Albertina - Sammlung Batliner)
Si el artista hubiera, igual a un sismógrafo, ya sentido los temblores de la próxima guerra mundial, se vuelve al finalizar su famosa imagen contra la guerra Guernica (1937) preferiblemente a representaciones de la muerte. Como en una contemplación meditativa, soñadora, reflexionando sobre la vida extinta, el interés en la imagen real del pájaro muerto desvanece cada vez más. Se distinque más bien el esplendor brillante de los colores del plumaje, que por el fondo gris-verde es puesta en evidencia de manera más destacada.
As if the artist, similar to a seismograph, had already sensed the catastrophes to be brought by the imminent World War, he preferably continued to deal with the subject of death also after the completion of his famous anti-war painting Guernica (1937). Like in a meditative, dreamy reflection comtemplating extinguished life, the interest in the shot bird as the motif proper gradually fades. What rather strikes the eye here instead is the glowing and colourful splendor of ist plumage, which is effectively set off against the greyish green background.
Als hätte der Künstler einem Seismografen gleich die Erschütterungen des kommenden Weltkriegs bereits gespürt, wendet er sich nach Fertigstellung seines berühmten Antikriegsbildes Guernica (1937) vorzugsweise Darstellungen des Todes zu. Wie in einer meditativen, träumerischen, dem erloschenen Leben nachsinnenden Betrachtung schwindet zusehends das Interesse am eigentlichen Bildgegenstand des erlegten Vogels. Ins Auge sticht vielmehr die funkelnde Pracht der Farben des Gefieders, das durch den graugrünen Hintergrund verstärkt zur Geltung kommt.
The Albertina
The architectural history of the Palais
(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)
Image: The oldest photographic view of the newly designed Palais Archduke Albrecht, 1869
"It is my will that the expansion of the inner city of Vienna with regard to a suitable connection of the same with the suburbs as soon as possible is tackled and at this on Regulirung (regulation) and beautifying of my Residence and Imperial Capital is taken into account. To this end I grant the withdrawal of the ramparts and fortifications of the inner city and the trenches around the same".
This decree of Emperor Franz Joseph I, published on 25 December 1857 in the Wiener Zeitung, formed the basis for the largest the surface concerning and architecturally most significant transformation of the Viennese cityscape. Involving several renowned domestic and foreign architects a "master plan" took form, which included the construction of a boulevard instead of the ramparts between the inner city and its radially upstream suburbs. In the 50-years during implementation phase, an impressive architectural ensemble developed, consisting of imperial and private representational buildings, public administration and cultural buildings, churches and barracks, marking the era under the term "ring-street style". Already in the first year tithe decided a senior member of the Austrian imperial family to decorate the facades of his palace according to the new design principles, and thus certified the aristocratic claim that this also "historicism" said style on the part of the imperial house was attributed.
Image: The Old Albertina after 1920
It was the palace of Archduke Albrecht (1817-1895), the Senior of the Habsburg Family Council, who as Field Marshal held the overall command over the Austro-Hungarian army. The building was incorporated into the imperial residence of the Hofburg complex, forming the south-west corner and extending eleven meters above street level on the so-called Augustinerbastei.
The close proximity of the palace to the imperial residence corresponded not only with Emperor Franz Joseph I and Archduke Albert with a close familial relationship between the owner of the palace and the monarch. Even the former inhabitants were always in close relationship to the imperial family, whether by birth or marriage. An exception here again proves the rule: Don Emanuel Teles da Silva Conde Tarouca (1696-1771), for which Maria Theresa in 1744 the palace had built, was just a close friend and advisor of the monarch. Silva Tarouca underpins the rule with a second exception, because he belonged to the administrative services as Generalhofbaudirektor (general court architect) and President of the Austrian-Dutch administration, while all other him subsequent owners were highest ranking military.
In the annals of Austrian history, especially those of military history, they either went into as commander of the Imperial Army, or the Austrian, later kk Army. In chronological order, this applies to Duke Carl Alexander of Lorraine, the brother-of-law of Maria Theresa, as Imperial Marshal, her son-in-law Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, also field marshal, whos adopted son, Archduke Charles of Austria, the last imperial field marshal and only Generalissimo of Austria, his son Archduke Albrecht of Austria as Feldmarschalil and army Supreme commander, and most recently his nephew Archduke Friedrich of Austria, who held as field marshal from 1914 to 1916 the command of the Austro-Hungarian troops. Despite their military profession, all five generals conceived themselves as patrons of the arts and promoted large sums of money to build large collections, the construction of magnificent buildings and cultural life. Charles Alexander of Lorraine promoted as governor of the Austrian Netherlands from 1741 to 1780 the Academy of Fine Arts, the Théâtre de Ja Monnaie and the companies Bourgeois Concert and Concert Noble, he founded the Academie royale et imperial des Sciences et des Lettres, opened the Bibliotheque Royal for the population and supported artistic talents with high scholarships. World fame got his porcelain collection, which however had to be sold by Emperor Joseph II to pay off his debts. Duke Albert began in 1776 according to the concept of conte Durazzo to set up an encyclopedic collection of prints, which forms the core of the world-famous "Albertina" today.
Image : Duke Albert and Archduchess Marie Christine show in family cercle the from Italy brought along art, 1776. Frederick Henry Füger.
1816 declared to Fideikommiss and thus in future indivisible, inalienable and inseparable, the collection 1822 passed into the possession of Archduke Carl, who, like his descendants, it broadened. Under him, the collection was introduced together with the sumptuously equipped palace on the Augustinerbastei in the so-called "Carl Ludwig'schen fideicommissum in 1826, by which the building and the in it kept collection fused into an indissoluble unity. At this time had from the Palais Tarouca by structural expansion or acquisition a veritable Residenz palace evolved. Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen was first in 1800 the third floor of the adjacent Augustinian convent wing adapted to house his collection and he had after 1802 by his Belgian architect Louis de Montoyer at the suburban side built a magnificent extension, called the wing of staterooms, it was equipped in the style of Louis XVI. Only two decades later, Archduke Carl the entire palace newly set up. According to scetches of the architect Joseph Kornhäusel the 1822-1825 retreaded premises presented themselves in the Empire style. The interior of the palace testified from now in an impressive way the high rank and the prominent position of its owner. Under Archduke Albrecht the outer appearance also should meet the requirements. He had the facade of the palace in the style of historicism orchestrated and added to the Palais front against the suburbs an offshore covered access. Inside, he limited himself, apart from the redesign of the Rococo room in the manner of the second Blondel style, to the retention of the paternal stock. Archduke Friedrich's plans for an expansion of the palace were omitted, however, because of the outbreak of the First World War so that his contribution to the state rooms, especially, consists in the layout of the Spanish apartment, which he in 1895 for his sister, the Queen of Spain Maria Christina, had set up as a permanent residence.
Picture: The "audience room" after the restoration: Picture: The "balcony room" around 1990
The era of stately representation with handing down their cultural values found its most obvious visualization inside the palace through the design and features of the staterooms. On one hand, by the use of the finest materials and the purchase of masterfully manufactured pieces of equipment, such as on the other hand by the permanent reuse of older equipment parts. This period lasted until 1919, when Archduke Friedrich was expropriated by the newly founded Republic of Austria. With the republicanization of the collection and the building first of all finished the tradition that the owner's name was synonymous with the building name:
After Palais Tarouca or tarokkisches house it was called Lorraine House, afterwards Duke Albert Palais and Palais Archduke Carl. Due to the new construction of an adjacently located administration building it received in 1865 the prefix "Upper" and was referred to as Upper Palais Archduke Albrecht and Upper Palais Archduke Frederick. For the state a special reference to the Habsburg past was certainly politically no longer opportune, which is why was decided to name the building according to the in it kept collection "Albertina".
Picture: The "Wedgwood Cabinet" after the restoration: Picture: the "Wedgwood Cabinet" in the Palais Archduke Friedrich, 1905
This name derives from the term "La Collection Albertina" which had been used by the gallery Inspector Maurice von Thausing in 1870 in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts for the former graphics collection of Duke Albert. For this reason, it was the first time since the foundation of the palace that the name of the collection had become synonymous with the room shell. Room shell, hence, because the Republic of Austria Archduke Friedrich had allowed to take along all the movable goods from the palace in his Hungarian exile: crystal chandeliers, curtains and carpets as well as sculptures, vases and clocks. Particularly stressed should be the exquisite furniture, which stems of three facilities phases: the Louis XVI furnitures of Duke Albert, which had been manufactured on the basis of fraternal relations between his wife Archduchess Marie Christine and the French Queen Marie Antoinette after 1780 in the French Hofmanufakturen, also the on behalf of Archduke Charles 1822-1825 in the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory by Joseph Danhauser produced Empire furnitures and thirdly additions of the same style of Archduke Friedrich, which this about 1900 at Portois & Ffix as well as at Friedrich Otto Schmidt had commissioned.
The "swept clean" building got due to the strained financial situation after the First World War initially only a makeshift facility. However, since until 1999 no revision of the emergency equipment took place, but differently designed, primarily the utilitarianism committed office furnitures complementarily had been added, the equipment of the former state rooms presented itself at the end of the 20th century as an inhomogeneous administrative mingle-mangle of insignificant parts, where, however, dwelt a certain quaint charm. From the magnificent state rooms had evolved depots, storage rooms, a library, a study hall and several officed.
Image: The Albertina Graphic Arts Collection and the Philipphof after the American bombing of 12 März 1945.
Image: The palace after the demolition of the entrance facade, 1948-52
Worse it hit the outer appearance of the palace, because in times of continued anti-Habsburg sentiment after the Second World War and inspired by an intolerant destruction will, it came by pickaxe to a ministerial erasure of history. In contrast to the graphic collection possessed the richly decorated facades with the conspicuous insignia of the former owner an object-immanent reference to the Habsburg past and thus exhibited the monarchial traditions and values of the era of Francis Joseph significantly. As part of the remedial measures after a bomb damage, in 1948 the aristocratic, by Archduke Albert initiated, historicist facade structuring along with all decorations was cut off, many facade figures demolished and the Hapsburg crest emblems plunged to the ground. Since in addition the old ramp also had been cancelled and the main entrance of the bastion level had been moved down to the second basement storey at street level, ended the presence of the old Archduke's palace after more than 200 years. At the reopening of the "Albertina Graphic Collection" in 1952, the former Hapsburg Palais of splendour presented itself as one of his identity robbed, formally trivial, soulless room shell, whose successful republicanization an oversized and also unproportional eagle above the new main entrance to the Augustinian road symbolized. The emocratic throw of monuments had wiped out the Hapsburg palace from the urban appeareance, whereby in the perception only existed a nondescript, nameless and ahistorical building that henceforth served the lodging and presentation of world-famous graphic collection of the Albertina. The condition was not changed by the decision to the refurbishment because there were only planned collection specific extensions, but no restoration of the palace.
Image: The palace after the Second World War with simplified facades, the rudiment of the Danubiusbrunnens (well) and the new staircase up to the Augustinerbastei
This paradigm shift corresponded to a blatant reversal of the historical circumstances, as the travel guides and travel books for kk Residence and imperial capital of Vienna dedicated itself primarily with the magnificent, aristocratic palace on the Augustinerbastei with the sumptuously fitted out reception rooms and mentioned the collection kept there - if at all - only in passing. Only with the repositioning of the Albertina in 2000 under the direction of Klaus Albrecht Schröder, the palace was within the meaning and in fulfillment of the Fideikommiss of Archduke Charles in 1826 again met with the high regard, from which could result a further inseparable bond between the magnificent mansions and the world-famous collection. In view of the knowing about politically motivated errors and omissions of the past, the facades should get back their noble, historicist designing, the staterooms regain their glamorous, prestigious appearance and culturally unique equippment be repurchased. From this presumption, eventually grew the full commitment to revise the history of redemption and the return of the stately palace in the public consciousness.
Image: The restored suburb facade of the Palais Albertina suburb
The smoothed palace facades were returned to their original condition and present themselves today - with the exception of the not anymore reconstructed Attica figures - again with the historicist decoration and layout elements that Archduke Albrecht had given after the razing of the Augustinerbastei in 1865 in order. The neoclassical interiors, today called after the former inhabitants "Habsburg Staterooms", receiving a meticulous and detailed restoration taking place at the premises of originality and authenticity, got back their venerable and sumptuous appearance. From the world wide scattered historical pieces of equipment have been bought back 70 properties or could be returned through permanent loan to its original location, by which to the visitors is made experiencable again that atmosphere in 1919 the state rooms of the last Habsburg owner Archduke Frederick had owned. The for the first time in 80 years public accessible "Habsburg State Rooms" at the Palais Albertina enable now again as eloquent testimony to our Habsburg past and as a unique cultural heritage fundamental and essential insights into the Austrian cultural history. With the relocation of the main entrance to the level of the Augustinerbastei the recollection to this so valuable Austrian Cultural Heritage formally and functionally came to completion. The vision of the restoration and recovery of the grand palace was a pillar on which the new Albertina should arise again, the other embody the four large newly built exhibition halls, which allow for the first time in the history of the Albertina, to exhibit the collection throughout its encyclopedic breadh under optimal conservation conditions.
Image: The new entrance area of the Albertina
64 meter long shed roof. Hans Hollein.
The palace presents itself now in its appearance in the historicist style of the Ringstrassenära, almost as if nothing had happened in the meantime. But will the wheel of time should not, cannot and must not be turned back, so that the double standards of the "Albertina Palace" said museum - on the one hand Habsburg grandeur palaces and other modern museum for the arts of graphics - should be symbolized by a modern character: The in 2003 by Hans Hollein designed far into the Albertina square cantilevering, elegant floating flying roof. 64 meters long, it symbolizes in the form of a dynamic wedge the accelerated urban spatial connectivity and public access to the palace. It advertises the major changes in the interior as well as the huge underground extensions of the repositioned "Albertina".
Christian Benedictine
Art historian with research interests History of Architecture, building industry of the Hapsburgs, Hofburg and Zeremonialwissenschaft (ceremonial sciences). Since 1990 he works in the architecture collection of the Albertina. Since 2000 he supervises as director of the newly founded department "Staterooms" the restoration and furnishing of the state rooms and the restoration of the facades and explores the history of the palace and its inhabitants.
a glimpse of the roof. As there are lots of trees and a café terrace at ground level, you can't see much of the building - this is taken from the Tinguely fountain side; I just happened to look up and see the frieze through the trees. From the front side on the street, the building is unprepossessing.
Copied and pasted from MySwitzerland:
Kunsthalle Basel is one of the world's most renowned and active public art institutions. Since its opening in 1872, it committed itself to the presentation of contemporary art. Kunsthalle Basel looks back on a long tradition of supporting the Avantgarde and of expanding the borders of contemporary art.
“One who thoroughly realises the greatness of God feels, ‘No matter how many sins one may have committed, if one merely utters the name of God even once, all of one’s sins will be burnt to ashes.’ However, what understanding should one who realises God’s greatness in this manner cultivate so that he never falters from the observance of dharma?”
“A person who thoroughly realises God’s greatness can still observe dharma if he cultivates the following understanding: ‘I want to constantly contemplate upon God and become an ekãntik bhakta. But if my vrutti is drawn towards vicious natures such as lust, anger, avarice, etc., then that will be a hindrance in my contemplation of God.’ Realising this, he remains extremely wary of treading the wrong path. As a result, he would never do anything related to adharma. If a person has such an understanding, then even though he thoroughly realises the greatness of God, he would never falter in his observance of dharma.
“Indeed, it is not a small feat to be able to contemplate upon God constantly. Because if one were to leave this body while contemplating upon God, one would attain an extremely elevated state.”
“First of all, to be able to constantly contemplate upon God, one needs such shraddhã. If one does not have such shraddhã, it implies that there is a corresponding deficiency in realising God’s greatness. When there is a deficiency in realising God’s greatness, it suggests that there is also a corresponding deficiency in one’s conviction of God. So, if one realises the greatness of God and has shraddhã as well, then one will be able to constantly contemplate upon God.
“Furthermore, God’s greatness should be realised as follows: God, who transcends Prakruti-Purush, is the very same when He enters them; that is to say, He still retains His divine powers. Even after He enters the entities evolved from Prakruti-Purush, i.e., the brahmãnd, He retains the very same powers; but, in no way do traces of mãyã affect God’s form. For example, consider the difference between gold and other metals. When they are buried together in the ground, after a long period of time, the metals other than the gold will decompose into the dirt surrounding them. In comparison, the longer the gold stays in the ground, the more valuable it becomes; i.e., it does not decompose in any way. Similarly, God, deities such as Brahma and others, or other munis are not all the same. This is because when they come into the contact of dirt in the form of the vishays, then all except God become engrossed in those vishays, regardless of how great they may be. Moreover, although God seems to be like a human, there is no worldly object capable of affecting Him. Regardless of how alluring a vishay may be, He is never enticed by it. Such is the transcendental greatness of God. If one realises such greatness, one would be able to constantly contemplate upon God.
“However, as long as a devotee is attracted to vishays, he has not realised God’s transcendental greatness at all. For example, Shri Krishna Bhagwãn said to Uddhavji, ‘O Uddhav! You are not even slightly lesser than me.’ Why was this so? Because Uddhavji had realised God’s transcendental greatness and thus was not allured by the panchvishays.
“For one who realises the greatness of God, to rule a kingdom or to have to beg for food are both equivalent. He also feels the same towards a young girl, a 16-year-old girl, and an 80-year-old woman. In fact, he views all of the attractive and repulsive objects in this world as being equal; he does not get enticed by an alluring object as a moth does by a lamp. In fact, he is not tempted by any object whatsoever except for God; he is only attracted to the form of God. A devotee who behaves in this manner never becomes bound by vishays, regardless of how enticing they may be.
“However, if a person has not understood this key principle, then it would be very difficult for him to detach his mind from even a torn waistcloth or a gourd. Thus, without realising God’s greatness in this way, even if a person endeavours in a million other ways, he will still not be able to constantly contemplate upon the form of God. Conversely, only one who realises the greatness of God is able to constantly contemplate upon Him.”
- Lord Swãminãrãyan, Vachanãmrut Gadhadã II-4
“I do not like vanity. That vanity may be of one’s virtues of bhakti,
renunciation, or vairãgya; of one’s attainment of the attributes of
Brahma; of one's understanding; or of one’s observance of the five
religious vows4. I do not like these or any other forms of vanity.
Also, I do not like hypocrisy. What is hypocrisy? Well, although one
may not have much faith, bhakti or dharma, to outwardly pretend to
possess them to a great extent in order to look pious in front of others
is hypocrisy. That, I do not like. Nor do I like any person who, while
worshipping God, eliminates the distinction between himself and
God. I also do not like a person who behaves liberally; i.e., after
taking a vow, he adheres to it occasionally and relaxes from it
occasionally. In addition, I do not like a person who, having
extensively understood the profound glory of God, considers himself to
be extremely insignificant and does not believe his true form to be the
ãtmã, which is distinct from the body.
Now I shall describe the type of person I do like. Such a person
thoroughly understands the greatness of God. He understands his
ãtmã – which is vyatirek from the body – to be brahmarup. He
firmly observes dharma and also staunchly engages in the bhakti of
God. Despite having such virtues, if there is some devotee in the
Satsang fellowship who does not understand anything yet has faith in
God, then the former would consider the latter to be great and
himself to be insignificant in comparison to that devotee. When
speaking, such a person never reveals even the slightest pride of his
wisdom. I am extremely pleased with a person who behaves in this
manner.”
- Lord Swãminãrãyan, Vachanãmrut Gadhadã III-26